


New Dangan Ronpa V2: Everyone's New Semester of Killing

by tounge1992



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-09
Updated: 2017-12-26
Packaged: 2018-10-29 19:21:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 17,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10860420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tounge1992/pseuds/tounge1992
Summary: Before the 53rd killing game there was the 52nd killing game.This time follow Super High-School Level Adventurer Rantarou Amami as he tries to figure out exactly what is going on and whether he can leave this killing game alive.Major spoilers for Dangan Ronpa, Super Dangan Ronpa 2 and Dangan Ronpa V3





	1. Prolouge: The Prelude to 53, Part One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An AU ( if you can call it that) of the 52nd killing game and what transpired before Dangan Ronpa V3

Rantaro Amami had never been one for staying in a place for too long. He always had this wanderlust which kept him moving from place to place; an itch for adventure you could say. Having traveled all over the world he has seen and learnt numerous things unavailable to those in his age group and even those older than him. Amami knew that nothing was ever permanent- that the world was always constantly moving and that you had to move with it too. Or risk getting left in the dust. This suited him just fine as he quite enjoyed travelling around the world, taking in different adventures and constantly moving around.

But for all his travels, Amami would never consider himself talented at travelling; in fact adventuring was more of a hobby than anything else. He could certainly think of people who were far more talented at adventuring than he was. So naturally it came as a huge shock to Amami when he one day received a letter in the mail. Now usually Amami is no stranger to mail, having made numerous pen-pals all over the globe. However this was no ordinary mail. It was an invite. An invite from Hope's Peak Academy. Curiously, Amami decided to open up the letter. Inside was an acceptance letter and an invite for him to attend the prestigious school as the Super High-School Level Adventurer.

"Is this some sort of joke?" Amami uttered in a hushed breath. He didn't for a second believe that Hope's Peak Academy could be interested in him or anything he does, yet the letter is right here, declaring him a Super High-School Level Adventurer for Hope's Peak 80th class. Before he can question the validity of the acceptance letter he tries to reason with himself that maybe he can contact the admin at the school and try to clear this up. This idea quickly goes out of the window as Amami soon comes to the realization that you don't contact a prestigious institution such as Hope's Peak Academy; they contact you. It was a one-sided communication between the education institute and the talented students. Really it was understandable why they did this--parents and students alike must be so desperate to get into a school which guarantees life-long success to students who graduate. Anyone would be honored and privileged to go to this institution. And make no mistake Rantaro Amami was more than happy to be invited and as a Super High-School Level Adventurer no less, but something felt off to him about the whole situation and he couldn't quite place his finger on what felt off. Hope's Peak Academy was notorious for given little information outside their walls and their influence and government-protected status made this possible for the school to maintain quite a lot of mystery, which in a way enthralled Amami. He had to admit to himself that part of the reason for his uneasiness and even excitement was because Hope's Peak was a such a mysterious place to the rest of the world. "Though I have so many questions, I have no choice. I suppose I'm going to have to accept this offer and go find out what Hope's Peak Academy is like for myself" Amami mused to himself.

The big day had come far sooner than Amami would have liked. Having accepted his invite there was so much to prepare beforehand. He had to inform his old school Hope's Pass High School that he would be upgrading to Hope's Peak Academy. They were mostly supporting though Amami could clearly see the disappointment on their faces that one of the better students was leaving for greener pastures. Amami cared not though; due to his rather feminine appearance, more often than not he had trouble making friends his own age and even was a victim of bullying on occasion from some of the brasher and angrier students who harassed him on numerous topics including his appearance and sexuality. And he was one of the lucky ones, at least he had the support of his numerous sisters at home; from what he heard some people at the school who were bullied far more frequently had nothing at all. Suffice to say he wasn't sorry to see the tail-end of Hope's Pass.

However what was far more difficult was informing his family, or rather his numerous sisters that he would be leaving their loving home to attend Hope's Peak. Coming from a very wealthy family Amami was blessed to grow up a privileged lifestyle which allowed him the luxury of travelling so much and living in grandeur with his numerous sisters. His sisters most of them having different mothers are technically step-sisters. But Amami didn't care. As far as he was concerned his younger siblings were all family to him. He was almost in tears as he informed his sisters that he was going to be leaving them. He had always assumed the role of a figurehead around them, always taking care of his sisters. Even going so far as to learn numerous subjects and skills which would be considered feminine. Yet Amami loved it. Being the responsible older sibling and taking very good care of all his younger siblings it gave him a sense of purpose in life, which not even travelling and adventuring could fill. The only reason he didn't cry was to maintain the stoic older figure that his sisters came to rely on. Luckily for Amami his sisters were far more excited and even happy for him to be attending Hope's Peak Academy. "Rantaro-chan "Rantaro-chan You'll make an excellent student, don't worry about us, you have done more than enough for us! You deserve this" his youngest sister declared. There was a sound of general assent among the other sisters and Amami did burst into tears after that; thanking his family for being so supportive of him and stating "he had the best sisters in the world" over and over again."Just remember, Rantaro that no matter what happens we love you. Now go and make our family proud" the oldest of the younger sisters said, giving Amami a strong hug. He was going to do it. He was going to do it for his sisters, his family.

Standing at the front gates of Hope's Peak Amami had no idea why he was so worried about going in the first place. True to the few pictures available Hope's Peak Academy looked simply wonderful. So many thoughts were running through his head that Amami had to take a few deep breaths before he looked up again from the ground this time with a determined smile. He had done it. By some sheer miracle he had made it to Hope's Peak Academy as the Super High-School Level Adventurer. This was it. He was going to make his family proud and show the world what Rantaro Amami was truly made of. As his smile widened and he began to walk through towards the school gates Amami thought to himself " You know after travelling for so long it may be nice to finally relax in one place. Maybe my sisters can even come and visit m----"

He wasn't able to finish that thought as he felt his mind ripped away from everything he knew to be the truth. The next thing he knew, his face smacked down on the cold grey concrete and Super High-School Adventurer Rantaro Amami faded away into nothing.

                                                                                                   *****

Amami woke up to find himself in a confined space. A very confined and dark space. A very confined and dark space with an absolutely atrocious headache. Amami was no stranger to dark and confined places as he often found himself in difficult situations while on his travels. However this was different; something was so clearly wrong. He last remembered standing outside the gate of Hope’s Peak Academy, taking his first steps towards the building and now he was, at best being held hostage in an unknown place. Suffice to say things could be far far better.

As Amami started to recover from his blistering headache he began moving his body. “Stiff” he thought to himself. At the very least Amami was able to discern that he had been drugged, but with what was anyone’s guess. Wriggling his body he recognized that three of the four walls he was confined to were unmovable. No surprises there Amami sarcastically noted. Amami began to realize that his small space only had a limited amount of oxygen and that if he remained inactive any more he was most likely to die, due to oxygen deprivation. “Great, just great” He spat out to himself.

Figuring he had nothing else to lose at this point, Amami reached out and tried to push the wall in front of him. To his surprise the wall in front of him was not completely unmovable. Gaining a minuscule amount of hope that his situation may not be futile, Amami gathered what limited strength he had and used his entire body to push at the wall. Though the wall did not completely break it certainly became weaker than before. Resolving himself to not give up, Amami tried this same tactic again. And again. And again. After four tries Amami was spent and gasping for air. Yet he knew, somehow that he was close. That if he could just gather up the strength to try once more, then he could break through. “Come on Rantarou! What would your sisters have to say about giving up?” he noted to himself. With that small pep talk, Amami put far more strength than he thought he had into pushing the wall in him. And finally the wall in front of him caved in. Except it wasn’t a wall it was a door: a locker door to be exact. Amami also underestimated his own strength. Once again he fell face first on to the cold hard floor.

Fortunately this time he didn’t pass out. As Amami groaned to himself, he slowly lifted his face and upper body to try and regain some, if only a little bit of his equilibrium. He also began gasping violently and quickly, most likely to due to the increase in oxygen within the room. Taking a few minutes Amami was able to regain his composure and he began inspecting his surroundings to find that… he was in a classroom. A really modern classroom, almost entirely made out of chrome. The desks, the board, the windows, the display and speakers; all of them made out of chrome. Honestly it was a complete eyesore and it took Amami's eyes a few minutes to properly take in the classroom which was in front of him. He made a note that there was only one visible door in this room which lead to the outside.

“At the very least, we appear to be in a classroom, possibly a school. Perhaps we’re in the inside of Hope’s Peak Academy” Amami mused to himself taking in his surroundings. As Amami continued to observe his surroundings and formulate possible explanations in his own mind about what could possibly be going, there were a few things that were going on through his mind. Firstly if this was Hope’s Peak Academy, why exactly did he faint outside the school gates? Amami knew himself well enough to know that something in this milk wasn’t clean. That he could so conveniently lose consciousness and end up in a classroom. Amami was secretly hoping that it was just his nerves that got the better of him and that the staff at the school were nice enough to bring him inside… and stick him in a locker. As much as Amami wanted to believe that was the case, one thing was very clear to him. “Wherever I am, I am not at Hope’s Peak Academy” he declared.

The second point, which somewhat ties into the first point, that being the fact that the clothes on him are not the same clothes he was wearing while outside the front gate. Originally Amami had come in his school uniform: Black trousers, a white shirt, a cardigan and matching black tie and shoes to finish the ensemble. Yet now, he was in what seemed to be grey trousers, grey and white trainers and a striped black and blue jumper with what appeared to be an intricate mandala design on the bottom corner. Add to this his numerous wristbands, rings and piercings, which he only discovered after putting his hand to his ears by accident, Amami looked entirely different than he remembered. “Rather flashy and garish” humming to himself, he suddenly shivered at the fact that after losing consciousness someone took the time to undress him and dress him up, not to mention giving him a ton of piercings and decorating his body in trinkets which would only serve to slow down the Super High-School Adventurer. Not realizing it Amami had tensed up even more so than before.

The third and final thing which caught Amami’s attention was that on the opposite side of the room was a chrome locker. A chrome locker exactly the same to the one he fell out from. Taking a deep breath he slowly began to approach the locker. In the back of his mind, he knew that something was in that locker. It had to be, how could it not? Amami was prepared for the worst as he got closer and closer to the locker. Just as he was approaching the locker and just as he thought his heart couldn’t possibly beat any faster….

*Knock knock*

Amami froze in place, eyes widened with what could only be described as pure fear.

*Knock Knock Knock*

Scrunching his face and struggling to find the words to articulate his thoughts, Amami was only able to blurt out “Is someone in there?”

*Knock Knock KNOCK*

The sound getting louder Amami decided this was the best time for action. With that he tried to pull on the locker door. But no such luck, it was far too sturdy and didn’t even budge.

*Knock KNOCK KNOCK*

… Out of ideas for now, Amami decided to back away from the locker door, lest he get hurt. “ I’m sorry but I can’t get you out” You’ll have to try harder to get yourself out, like I did!” If nothing else Amami was at least able to impart some advice, even in this situation. One of the benefits of being the oldest, he guessed.

*KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK*

With those final noises coming from the door the locker door gave way and out tumbled someone. A young teenage girl to be exact. Amami rushed over to the new person and tried to help her get her bearings. But before he could do that…

                                                                                                       *****

“EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!” The stranger shrieked. “Please don’t hurt me! I haven’t done anything wrong, I promise!” The girl pleaded, shaking for dear life; with tears forming at her eyes.

“Calm down! I’m in the same situation as you! I’m not going to hurt you” Amami stated, trying to calm the increasingly panicking girl down. He had to think fast, otherwise the situation was going to get a lot worse. He had to do whatever he could to calm the girl down

The girl in front of him wasn’t calming down, however. Instead she had restored to gripping her left arm with her right hand and began to breathe heavily. “H-h-how do I know that I c-c-can trust you!?” For all I know you could be the one r-r-responsible for my kidnapping!” She barely stammered out that sentence.

“You really struggle under tense situations don’t you?” Amami noted to himself. And he was right; the girl in front of him was a quivering wreck.

“D-don’t make fun of me! It’s not my fault that I f-f-freakout easily, OKAY!?” The girl screaming at Amami and jabbing her index finger towards his slim chest.

… “Sorry” came the one word reply.

That seemed to have placated the girl, somewhat. “It’s okay”. She breathed in and out heavily, having appeared to calm down. “So….so you said you found yourself in the same situation, huh? Amami was waiting for the girl to calm down so he could at last find out more about the situation.

“Yeah. I was originally meant to attend Hope’s Peak Academy as a Super High-School Level student. As I took my first steps to the school, I suddenly fainted. When I woke up, I found myself stuffed within one of those lockers. After having broke free I find myself in this chrome classroom. And that’s basically what happened before I found you.”

“Hmmm” Came the reply from the girl

“So tell me did the same thing happen to you?”

“Hmmmmm” The same reply from the girl.

“Well?” Amami enquired, slowly growing more frustrated with the situation and indeed with the girl

“....HMMMMMMMM” The reply, once again coming from the girl.

Amami, almost losing his patience decided to take matters into his own hands. He had to do something after all if he was going to make any progress, even if his plans backfired on him. At least Amami had to try and at this point he was desperate.

He poked the girl on the cheek to try to get her attention. Just lightly, but enough that it should get her attention. Nothing. Amami decided to try poking the other cheek, this time a little bit harder. Still, nothing. Inhaling what was so clearly a frustrated breath, Amami decided to flick the girl on her forehead, not taking as much care as he would if he were performing the same action on one of his younger siblings. Surprise. Nothing.

Frowning in defeat, Amami decided to take a step back and observe the girl he was trying to converse with. She appeared to be in what looked like a modest school girl’s uniform; the uniform being dark blue, which was only slightly darker than her waist-length blue hair. Add to this her bifocal glasses and her plain face it was clear to Amami that this girl was a teenager. Just like him.

"Perhaps she is another one of the Super-High School Level students like myself”

“Oh wow. To poke both my cheeks and then flicking my forehead and quite hard at that too” I never would have expected that. Is this what teenage boys are all about, I wonder?” The girl blurted out, a few minutes after the event had taken place.

“Well if you knew then the least you could have done was answer! Especially given our situation!” Amami angrily said.

The girl still had a blank if somewhat smug expression as she addressed Amami. “Well what you said was correct and it was a lot of information to take in. When I want to focus I end up blocking all outside interference. Sorry it’s not you, this is just how I work.”

“You know what, it’s fine. Let’s just blame it on this weird situation and move on” Amami said, desperate to move the conversation along. “ So if you agree with what I said, it would stand to reason that you are also a Super High-School Level student as well, right?

“That’s right!” The girl said, excited with the conversation. “Now that I know what’s going on, do you think it would be a good idea to at least introduce ourselves”

“I’d say so.If we’re to learn about our situation then we should probably get to know the basics about each other” Amami explained. The girl nodded in agreement.

“In that case I’m Rantarou Amami. My talent is the Super High-School Level Adventurer. It’s nice to meet ya”.

With his short introduction over, the girl's face was unreadable. Then it slowly twisted into what Amami thought of as an obsessed smile. “That’s so cool! You’re an adventurer. Just like Tomb Raider’s Lara Croft. And you both pretty much have the same proportion! Gyaah this is just too perfect Amami-kun! I bet you’re pretty acrobatic and know how to use guns and have cool one liners and--” At this point the girl had grabbed both of Amami’s wrists and was speaking faster and faster to the point where Amami was struggling to understand her speech.

“Woah let’s calm down!” Amami shouted trying to free himself from the girl’s grip. But no luck; she was far stronger than she looked. The girl suddenly jolted. She looked at Amami and began to nervously laugh. “Sorry about that. It’s just that I link everything back to my own talent and I’ve never met an adventurer before!”I get so obsessed it’s quite embarrassing. My specialty is in all things retro gaming and how I’m bringing the medium back”. The girl admitted. “Ah! But you want me to introduce myself don’t you?”

Amami nodded, feeling glad he was making some sort of headway.

“In that case allow me then Amami-kun” The girl stated, standing up straighter than she had before. “My name is Tsumugi Shirogane and I am the Super High-School Level Retro Gamer.”

[[TSUMUGI SHIROGANE: SUPER HIGH-SCHOOL LEVEL RETRO GAMER]]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear to you I had this avatar before I decided to write this!  
> At any rate I hope you enjoyed this. Comments, praise and criticism are all welcome so please comment below.


	2. Prolouge: The Prelude to 53, Part Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we have the second part of the prologue. Apologies for the delay
> 
> Also a HUUUGE shoutout to DoctorRosalia for allowing me permission to use the name Miyadera Shinguji.

Amami stared at Shirogane for a few seconds before shaking her hand and giving a subtle smile towards the girl. “Well thank you for introducing yourself to me Shirogane-san”

After that there was a silence. Amami knew that  what was most important was finding out as much as they could about their situation, but for some inexplicable reason he felt awkward around the girl he just met. It was almost as if he had met her previously, but he couldn’t quite put his fingers on the situation in which they met. For now all Amami could do was try to figure out his current predicament.

“So, Shirogane-san what do you think about the situation we’ve found ourselves in?” Amami posed towards the blue-haired girl, desperate to start any sort of conversation.

  
“Hmmmm. Well from what I’ve learnt in my line of work a kidnapping like this, that we’re free to explore our surroundings, suggest to me that our captors have something big in mind.” responded the girl. “The fact that we’re allowed any movement at all, that we’re allowed to communicate with each other; it certainly is a departure from how most murder-mystery games and visual novels are conducted, especially when you look at the medium from the late 80’s onward.”

Amami raised his newly-pierced eyebrow at the girl and mused over her insight into their situation. She made a valid point about being allowed to talk each other and being able to move about freely in their situation. This certainly was an unusual thing for hostages to be allowed to do. However one thing that Shirogane stated stood out to him.

“That we’re allowed to communicate with each other” Amami parroted back to Shirogane.

“Erm, yes?”

Amami took a deep breath in. He knew he was right to pick up on that innocent comment Shirogane had made. Compiling all his thoughts and theories on his situation thus far Amami had suddenly came up with a theory he wanted to share with his new partner-in-crime.

Shirogane-san do you believe that other people, specifically other Super-High School Level students have been kidnapped and have found themselves in the same location as us?”

Shirogane had scrunched up her face for a few seconds after being asked. “Well I wasn’t necessarily implying that, but now that you bring it up it does make a good deal of sense doesn’t it?”

It was good that Shirogane had come to the same conclusion, at the very least Amami was glad he met someone who was genuinely intelligent, especially given the circumstances.

“That being the case I suggest that we then begin to explore our surroundings.” Amami proposed. “I’ve already searched this classroom before I discovered you in the other locker. Aside from the hideous Chrome-coloured design there doesn’t seem to be anything of particular interest”

“Ah yes! The standard trope of main character and sidekick meeting and investigating during the prologue! It’s just like the beginning of Paper Mario for the Nintendo 64! That sounds wonderful, let’s go!” Shirogane had her chest puffed out and for the first time since meeting Amami generally looked happy.

All Amami could do was to laugh weakly. He had little idea what Shirogane was rambling on about, let alone the references to retro video games, although he wondered about that main character and sidekick quote. Was he the main character or the sidekick in this scenario?

At any rate the two students made their way to what appeared to be the only exit in the room; a single door that wasn’t coloured Chrome, rather the door was made out of wood. And on that wood door appeared to be what looked like a jagged red symbol painted in a foreign substance. Both Amami and Shirogane stopped in their tracks to take a good look at the mystery symbol decorated on the door. It was unsettling to say the least that this red symbol was such a prominent feature among the lifeless Chrome design, otherwise dominant in the classroom.

“Shirogane-san do you think this red symbol means anything in particular?” Amami asked, frightened of the answer he would receive back.

Unfortunately Shirogane turned to Amami after a few seconds with a face that only confirmed his fears. “The thing with symbols is that, more often than not they represent something, especially within certain genres and tropes. It would then stand to reason that this symbol is somehow relevant to our situation, though what it could possibly mean is beyond me at this point. Sorry.”

With that confirmation Amami inhaled a deep breath and decided that while he could keep a note of the red symbol in his mind, his top priority for now was to find out as much information about their situation. With that both Amami and Shirogane opened the wood door, or rather they slid the wooden door like a door one would find in a traditional tea house and exited the classroom.

                                                                                                     ****

As soon as they exited the classroom, Amami and Shirogane discovered themselves at one end of a long hallway. The first thing both students noticed as soon as they left the classroom was the fact that there was an overwhelming noise. It wasn’t loud by any stretch of the imagination, rather the noise served as ambience for the setting. However what that exact noise was it was hard to pinpoint. Amami knew for a fact that he had heard this noise before, several times in fact, yet it was impossible to pinpoint exactly what was. The best way Amami could describe the noise metal scraping against metal. Suffice to say Amami was beginning to get somewhat disoriented with the constant sound coupled with the other noticeable aspect of the hallway they just entered.

The other noticeable aspect being that the hallway appeared to be moving slightly. Swaying was a better way to describe. It wasn’t that uncomfortable, just odd that while the classroom displayed no strange attributes, minus the design, the hallway was a completely different story. At the very least the movements were consistent and there appeared to be no sudden movements, which was good for now.

“This certainly is a change in interior isn’t it?” Spoke the Green-haired boy, saying what was on both their minds.

Shirogane nodded in agreement, pointing out another strange feature of the hallway that Amami had not noticed. “This hallway is really cramped. Nothing like the classroom we just exited”

And Shirogane was right to point out how cramped the hallways were. The classroom was wide and spacious, just to be expected of Hope’s Peak Academy. Yet this hallway was only around three feet in height and even narrower in width. Amami could barely stretch out both his hands without touching either of the walls.

The walls he noticed were a smooth rich brown colour, made of mahogany wood; somewhat similar to the material of the classroom door. However the walls were definitely of a higher quality material compared to the door they exited from. This in contrast to the floor which was composed of an entirely different material; Crimson-Red carpet which Amami could compare to walking on autumn clouds. The deep coloured walls and flooring worked so well and combining that with the ceiling which was painted Egg-White and adorned with miniscule lighting which vaguely resembled lanterns the entire hallway gave off a very comfy and luxurious ambience. Cramped, yes, but impressive all the same.

But for their newfound surroundings, there was something more important. Something far more important, vital even in the hallway. At the very end of the long and narrow hallway appeared to be a figure; a person to be exact who had just appeared from somewhere.

Startled by their new discovery, both Amami and Shirogane shouted at the same time to try and get the attention of the mysterious figure.

“Hey! Over there”

“D-did you wake up in a strange place too?!”

Luckily for both of them the figure quickly turned around to find the source of the commotion. The figure appeared confused at first, obviously trying to assess the situation before making their move. After what was in reality a few seconds, but felt much longer to Amami and Shirogane the figure answered” Yeah I woke up in what looked like a classroom and came out into this hallway. The same happened with you lot?”

“Exactly the same, actually” Amami curtly replied

“Instead of shouting this information across the room, maybe we’d be better off actually getting a good look at each other, right?” replied the stranger, making a valid point

“Umm, that should be okay.” It was a lot more clear that Shirogane was hesitant about meeting with another person.

“Don’t worry Shirogane-san I got you in case anything happens” Amami whispered towards Shirogane

“Thank you Amami-kun, that means a lot” Shirogane said with a nervous giggle.

With that both students made their way down the long hallway to the other student. Amami noted that there were several doors on the left-hand side of the corridor with the exact same red symbol they first found in the Chrome classroom. It was noted by both of them that the hallway was a lot longer than it first appeared, the narrow hallways and the low ceiling accentuating the length of the hallway.

Once both students made their way to the mysterious figure there were able to get a much better look at the figure, who thankfully for them turned out to be a human being. Another teenage boy to be exact, wearing what appeared to be a Stone-Grey head wrap, a dress shirt and khakis. The teenage boy was only slightly shorter than Amami, but had a bit more muscle mass than the lanky green-haired adventurer.

“Oh thank the stars we found you both! We we’re getting a bit worried when we had only counted fourteen of us and there were sixteen dorms. So it’s good that everyone’s safe! Well you know as safe as you can be in a situation like this…”

The boy trailed off his sentence, realising that safety or otherwise, their situation was still dangerous.

But that was so clearly not the most important part of what he just said.

“Uhh you just said we’re getting a bit worried and talking about everyone. Does that mean that there are other students around?” Shirogane meekly asked.

“Right!” The boy snapped. Accounting for you two, that makes sixteen of us Super-High School Level Students.”

Amani merely nodded and hummed at that boy’s final statement, somewhat satisfied that he was previously right about there being other Super-High School Level Students in the vicinity. Looking forward, Amami then stated

“Hey, before we get into all that do you mind if we can introduce ourselves?”

“Yeah, sure” came the reply.

Amami decided out of courtesy to go first, to break the tension.

“Well then I’m Rantarou Amami. My talent is the Super High-School Level Adventurer. Nice to meet you” his introduction almost word for word when he introduced himself to Shirogane.

“And my name is Tsumugi Shirogane, and I specialise in all things retro-game related as the Super-High School Level Retro Gamer” Shirogane chimed in.

The boy stared at both of them for a few seconds before giving a big smile. “Well that’s great! Just great. Thanks for the introduction I appreciate it”

Before Amami and Shirogane could ask about his talent the boy stood up straight and stared at Amami intensely all of a sudden.

“Is everything alright?” Amami asked, trying his best not to betray his nerves to the mystery boy.

“Yeah, everything’s fine.”

The boy stared intensely at Amami for another minute, inspecting his features before returning to his smile.

“Libra: October 3rd.”

Amami was taken back to say the least. That someone could just guess his star sign, let alone his birthday was impressive.

“You definitely fit the characteristics of an air sign so this was an easy one.”

It wasn’t usual that Amami was unnerved by another person. After all he had taken care of all his younger sisters and was used to dealing with a wide gambit, but this was different. Before Amami could voice his surprise and concerns the boy had already turned his cold-as-ice inspection towards Shirogane who shivered slightly and wasn’t able to make eye contact with the boy, instead looking towards the side.

After approximately another minute the mystery boy folded his arms, this time with a more subtle smile.

“This one was a bit more difficult, as you don’t seem to display any traits that are immediately associated with your sign. You’re a lot more introverted and that’s rare for a fire sign, though on occasion it does happen.”

Shirogane pursed her lips and said a simple “jackass” under her breath before the boy continued.

“Leo: August 15th”.

“Although I-I may be a plain-looking girl, I can assure you that I’m a proud Leo through and through! Just because you guessed my star sign, doesn’t mean you know anything about me, you know!” It was clear that the analysis from their new acquaintance had hit a nerve with Shirogane.

“I’ll take that as correct then.” The boy replied.

Amami sensing that this could turn ugly, stepped in. “Well at any rate that was impressive! How’d you know both our star signs and our birthdays”

The boy smiled at Amami for what seemed to be a bit too long before answering

“Well it’s because I’m an esper. Kind of. Sort of. An esper that’s good at the zodiac signs. Did you know that an astrological sign can tell a lot about a person?”

Struggling to keep up, Amami and Shirogane kept staring at the boy as he kept going on with his disconnected sentences for a few more seconds.

“Well to make a long story short I’m an astrologer. The best there is which is why I was invited to Hope’s Peak Academy. I Haruki Tachibana can correctly guess not only your star sign but even your birthday after only a few moments. Impressive, isn’t it?”

[[HARUKI TACHIBANA: SUPER-HIGH SCHOOL LEVEL ASTROLOGER]]

“Oh and if you’re wondering about me- November 22nd: Scorpio/Sagittarius cusp.”

It certainly was impressive if not a little bit creepy that Tachibana was able to read them so easily. Although Amami had absolutely no idea what to do with the information he was just given about Tachibana, he didn’t really care for something so wishy-washy as Astrology, though he knew better than to voice that opinion.

“I’m glad I was able to guess everyone’s stats correctly” Tachibana declared proudly before continuing” Both of you were pretty cool to let me do my thing y’know! Some of the others weren’t so thrilled to be profiled like that…”

Forgetting that Shirogane had snapped at him moments earlier, she addressed their new classmate with a sympathetic smile. “Hey don’t worry about it Tachibana-kun, I get wanting to indulge in your thing, I do it all the time with my talent. It’s admirable really.”

Hearing that, the astrologer gave a hearty laugh and wrapped his right arm around Shirogane, who at first recoiled but eased into it. “That’s just like a Leo to try and cheer others up! Us Fire signs have to stick together”

Amami smiled at the sight of his supposed classmates getting along. But he knew that there more pressing matters that needed to be attended to.

“Tachibana-kun you say you met the others, where are they exactly?” Amami enquired

“Oh yeah, I have. They’re all upstairs in different parts of the building. Just take the stairs up and you should be good” Tachibana answered, using his free hand to gesture the stairs behind him.

Amami and Shirogane looked to were Tachibana was waving his hand to see some wooden stairs. Stairs that had seen better days and looked like they could collapse any minute. But there they were, leading to the next floor that both students were so desperate to explore.

“I think it’d be a good idea to explore what surroundings are available to us. Tachibana-kun since you’ve already explored the other areas before coming down here and meeting us would it be okay for you to accompany us?” Amami asked, wanting to cut straight to the point.

Before Tachibana was able to answer their request, the three students heard another voice, calling towards their general direction, coming from the stairs.

“Haru-chan, Haru-chan! Did you find the missing students?!” came the high-pitched energetic voice, apparently addressing Tachibana.

The three of them turned to find someone descending the stairs and approaching their group. “Another Super-High School Level student” Amami noted to himself.

The person came at quite a quick speed towards the trio and once they had arrived, began talking a mile-a-minute, somehow not losing any energy.

“Haru-chan! Nana has been looking all around with the others! We’re limited to four floors! Ooh, Ooh! But we each have our own bedrooms with facilities! And a Dining room! And a totally cool kitchen! But Nana can’t access the fourth floor! She tried an ‘open sesame’ command several times but NADA!”

“Well that’s a shame, but cheers anyway for checking that out and coming down to tell me” Tachibana replied, disappointed at the news.

The person looked ready to start talking again and it was clear that if someone didn’t stop this person, that they were going to keep on. Amami decided to clear his throat ever so slightly and nudged Shirogane to do the same. The person took notice of the two students and began.

“Hey! Hey! We haven’t met?! Yeah? Yeah! Cool! Nana is Nana is Nana is two-thirds of Banana! And that’s me, Nana Hayashi!

[[NANA HAYASHI: SUPER-HIGH SCHOOL LEVEL BAKER]]

“And I’m the SHSL Baker! Great, right?!

After that wild introduction Amami took a moment to observe the hurricane of a person in front of them. He noted that the person standing in front of him was a short girl wearing a checkered shirt with an apron that covered her entire torso and upper thighs. She certainly looked the part of a baker and Amami could only imagine how goods her products must be to be admitted to Hope’s Peak Academy.

“Well I’m Rantarou Amami Super-High School Level Adventurer”

“And I am Tsumugi Shirogane Super-High School Level Retro Gamer! Nice to meet you Hayashi-san”

The new girl, satisfied with how things went decided to start up again. “Rarou-chan! Tsugi-chan! Thank you for introducing yourself to Nana! She totally appreciates it! Also Rarou-chan your hair! It’s so green! So wonderfully green! You’ve inspired Nana! Whatever she bakes next she’ll make sure it’s as green as you!”

Shirogane and Tachibana began to crack a smile at Amami’s hair being dissected, although Amami didn’t quite feel the same way. Desperate to change the subject, Amami decided to prompt Hayashi on her talent.

“So Hayashi-san” began Amami “ Being the Super-High School Level Baker you naturally must be good at cooking right? Tell me what’s your favourite thing to bake?” Amami questioned, desperate to move on from his hair.

“Well thanks for taking an interest Rarou-chan! Nana loves to bake and has even opened numerous artisan bakeries around Japan! Nana adores baking and will spend her entire day, from sunrise to sunset baking, taste-testing, designing and loads of other awesome things! Oddly enough Nana doesn’t care too much for sweet things though and would much rather bake bread or something savoury! Although Nana understands why sweets are important and how much people love them, so who is she to judge?! Furthermore-”

“Hayashi was somehow talking even faster than before and Amami had no way out. Luckily Shirogane was able to interrupt.

“That’s amazing Hayashi-san! You’ll have to show me your skills sometime!”

“Aww thanks Tsugi-chan! You’re great too, you know that!!

Internally thankful for Shirogane’s presence, Amami noted that Hayashi had mentioned something earlier he wanted clarification on. Sensing this may be his only chance, he jumped in.

“Hayashi-san you said something about the different floors, can you explain for me and Shirogane-san?”

Surprisingly, Hayashi took a few seconds before answering; something Amami thought impossible given her hyperactive personality.

“Well Rarou-chan and Tsugi-chan! It’s like Nana said! There’s four floors that Nana and friends have discovered so far. But we can’t seem to access the fourth floor, the door won’t budge.”

Being absent from the conversation for a while Tachibana spoke to the rest of the group. “ Hey, instead of us explaining it to you, maybe you guys would be better off exploring for yourself. Besides a fresh set of eyes may help.”

Tachibana made a valid point and both Amami and Shirogane agreed that they should get a first-hand look at the remaining floors.

“Well that being the case, me and Hayashi-san will go back to investigating the classrooms on this floor.” Tachibana declared. “Maybe we’ll find something new.”

“Well thank you then.” Shirogane said, smiling at both her new classmates. “Come on Amami-kun let’s go” she said prompting Amami to move to the stairs.

“Good luck guys!” Shouted Tachibana

“Bye-bye Rarou-chan and Tsugi-chan! Remember Rarou-chan I’ll bake something niice and green, so thanks!” Beamed Hayashi, unaware of the slight grimace that had formed on Amami’s face.

As Amami and Shirogane made their way to the stairs and began ascending to the next floor Shirogane turned to the boy with a coy smile

“ She’ll bake something nice and green, huh? Look’s like you got some competition for your hair Amami-kun!” Shirogane snorted

Amami-kun didn’t reply, instead opting to sigh in response. His hair and more generally his appearance was often a source of bullying and taunting from the bullies in his school. Amami knew that Hayashi had no malice behind her words, but he would much rather have his hair be a non-issue than anything; he was already self-conscious about himself as it was.

As he was thinking to himself about his appearance and self-esteem, both Amami and Shirogane had made their way up to the next floor in no time.

                                                                                                   ****                                                                                                                    

As they were both making their way up to the second floor Shirogane looked up and motioned to Amami that she could hear footsteps. Both of them stopped and were waiting as the footsteps became louder and louder as someone was descending down the stairs. Amami looked up and noted that their was a person, a girl in a pinstripe suit descending the stairs. How he was unable to see her was a mystery.

The person descending the stairs saw Amami and Shirogane but didn’t make any sort of attempt to stop, in fact walking right past them, brushing past Shirogane almost knocking her over.

“Wait!” Shirogane shouted motioning to the person, who appeared to be irritated having being stopped.

“Make it quick will you? Unlike you two who were the last to come out of your classrooms, I actually would like to keep on moving.” groaned the mystery person.

“Hey now there’s no need to be so rude” Amami stated looking down at the person. “Given our situation I think we should introduce ourselves”

The person gave a throaty cough before muttering something under their breath “ Fine. Utano Kitaki, SHSL Public Health Expert.”

[[UTANO KITAKI: SUPER-HIGH SCHOOL LEVEL PUBLIC HEALTH EXPERT]]

If that wasn’t blunt enough Kitaki suddenly pulled out a cigar out of her inside pocket, lit it and started smoking it, taking very deliberate and slow puffs.

Amami and Shirogane both were stunned that someone, a smoker who was so abrasive could be into public health.

Amami had to speak up, he couldn’t believe the contrast “You’re a public health expert, yet you’re smoking? Doesn’t that seem rather hypocr-

“Shut up” came the reply from Kitaki who was sneering at both of them before promptly walking off.

“Don’t you want to hear about us…?” It was clear Shirogane just wanted to pacify the situation as they had so clearly gotten off on the wrong foot.

“No” Kitaki plainly stated before disappearing out of sight.

“What a colourful nonsensical woman” Amami sighed.

Shirogane nodded in agreement.

The second floor had pretty much the same proportions as the first floor; extremely long in length, very narrow and cramped hallways with a variety of doors, though this time the doors were on both sides of the hallway. The hallway was still accompanied with the same noise and the swaying still continued, yet both the students had somewhat gotten used to the weird proximity of their environment. However the interior design of the hallway was different on the second floor. Amami had counted sixteen doors in the hallway, eight on each side and on the door he noted what looked to be a plaque made of dull gold with a black laced metallic-gold door knob to accompany the orange-gold walls and brown carpet completing the warm color scheme. Though he would need to get a much closer look at the plaque as there appeared to be something inscribed on each plaque. Before Amami could take a closer inspection…

“Amami-kun, look! There are other students in this hallway too” Shirogane hummed and pointed, interrupting Amami’s appreciation of the interior.

And there was. This hallway hosted a few more students and while most of the students seem preoccupied with their own activities the closet student turned towards Amami and Shirogane. A very tall and muscular boy wearing an all-black gakuran with a red headband ending just beyond his shoulders. To be honest he looked more like a grown man in his thirties than a teenager. As soon as he saw both the students his expression turned intense.

“Comrades! I see that you’ve awoken from your slumber! I trust that you’re in good spirits!” He was screaming at the other two, clasping his hands in prayer, squatting at random intervals and generally doing some very eccentric moves.

Amami gave an exasperated look towards his new acquaintance before whispering “ Hey you’re being kinda loud y’know”

The boy in question stood still for a microsecond before screaming at Amami” Of course! As a supporter it’s my job to get everyone hyped up! OSU!!”. He had started performing his eccentric moves once more

Amami winced

“OSU!!!” Shirogane shouted, giving a salute.

Their reactions could not have been more different. Whilst Amami was beginning to get annoyed by the increasing sound, Shirogane was beaming from ear to ear and was absolutely mesmerized by the person in front of them.  
“Well at any rate I’m Rantarou Amami. Nice to meet you, I guess…” Amami was less than enthusiastic about giving the same introduction this time

The boy bellowed in return “Not loud enough! I need MORE ENERGY!!”

“RANTAROU AMAMI!! NICE TO MEET YOU SIR!”

“Excellent!” came the reply

“And I am Tsumugi Shirogane! SUPER! HIGH! SCHOOL! LEVEL! RETRO! GAMER!” Shirogane had gotten far more into this than her green-haired classmate, even trying out some gestures of her own.

“Fantastic Shirogane! You’ve a strong spirit!” The boy yelled even louder. He then took a moment to compose himself before giving more energy than either Amami or Shirogane thought possible.

“OSU!! RYUUNOSUKE IPPONGI AT YOUR SERVICE!”

[[ RYUUNOSUKE IPPONGI: SUPER HIGH-SCHOOL LEVEL OUENDAN]]

Once Ippongi had finished his introduction he took on a completely different demeanor.  
“Apologies Shirogane and Amami! I was inducted with the believe that when meeting new people as an ouendan you must give it your all to show your support. I do it because I care.”

If Amami wasn’t exhausted before, he certainly was now. The shift in persona was unsettling to him to say the least. But what was even more unsettling was how collected and engaged Shirogane was towards the whole situation. It was a stark contrast to when Amami had first met the girl.

“Don’t worry about it Ippongi-kun! You’re the best at what you do and it’s natural to want to give it your all, I think.” Shirogane proclaimed, pressing her hands together with a determined expression

“Correct! You have my gratitude Shirogane!” Ippongi commanded.

Amami had to find out how the blue-haired girl wasn’t fazed by Ippongi and his weird tendencies. “Shirogane-san how are you not phased by this in the slightest?”

“Amami-kun, don’t tell me you're not familiar with the Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan series.” At this point Shirogane had grabbed both of Amami’s hands and had a slightly disappointed look on her face. “Granted there’s only two games and one spinoff within the franchise and it can hardly be considered a retro game being released in the 2000’s, but it certainly was a pivotal franchise for rhythm games. And furthermore....”

Shirogane had started rambling again and Amami was oddly glad when Ippongi had interrupted her.

“CORRECT! THAT GAME HAS BEEN INSTRUMENTAL IN MY LIFE!”

“OSU!!” Both Ippongi and Shirogane shouted in unison

Ippongi and Shirogane were so much more invested in this conversation. So much so they hadn’t noticed that the other students were paying attention to their animated conversation. Seeing this as a chance to meet some other students and possibly put an end to this esoteric conversation, Amami waved over the students to come join their little group.

The first student Amami noticed was a stunningly beautiful girl, clad in a traditional kimono, wearing heavy and prominent makeup and jet-black hair held up in a simple fashion. Though Amami was in no way attracted to her, he could certainly appreciate her radiant beauty. When she spoke her voice commanded the same respect her appearance did.

“Ippongi-san I understand your commitment to your craft, yet I feel that given our environment… perhaps it would be best to keep any shouting to a minimum. We still do not know the full extent of our situation; we must tread carefully.”

The other student, who was an average-sized boy, nodded in agreement. He was a complete contrast to the girl who had just spoken, wearing khakis with a baby-blue shirt tucked in and a black jacket. ‘Much simpler’ Amami thought.

“She’s right you know. I could hear you all the way from the other side of this hallway, you guys are pretty loud and I’m not used to loud noises where I’m based.”

Amami smiled at that, knowing that he wasn’t the only one who found their previous conversation to be too loud.

“However before we continue, I believe it would be beneficial if we introduced ourselves to our two new classmates. Will that be sufficient?” the girl requested.

Both Amami and Shirogane agreed, giving their respective introductions. Amami noticed that both of them were a lot more courteous to the girl than any other student thus far and Amami had an idea why.

“Well thank you Shirogane-san and Amami-san for introducing yourselves to us. My name is Ayame Azuma and it is a pleasure to make both of your acquaintances.” Ayame gave a very elegant bow after her introduction, really cementing her persona and commitment to her craft.

[[ AYAME AZUMA: SUPER HIGH-SCHOOL LEVEL MAIKO]]

The boy next to Azuma had nodded in Amami and Shirogane’s general direction before adjusting his glasses. “Ken Ikeda, Librarian. Nice to meet you.”

[[ KEN IKEDA: SUPER HIGH-SCHOOL LEVEL LIBRARIAN]]

“Unfortunately there aren’t any libraries here, I’ve made it a point to check” Ikeda sighed.

“Well don’t lose momentum yet Ikeda! We still haven’t had access to these rooms!” Ippongi was making it a point to speak in a much lower volume and it sounded weird to Amami.

“Yeah I guess…” Ikeda trailed off his sentence.

“By the by” Shirogane began “ Do any of you have any idea what’s behind any of these doors? There seems to be far more than the previous floor”

Azuma gave out a small laugh before answering the newly baffled Shirogane. “Well you should go and check now, should you not?” Azuma was now pointing to a specific door, the last one on the right-hand side before the next set of stairs “Check that one in particular, it should illuminate you, Shirogane-san”

Shirogane and Amami both started walking to the door and approached it to observe for any standout features. On the plaque of the door looked to be a pixelated face with blue hair and glasses. This was clearly meant to depict Shirogane and her name written in midnight black calligraphy underneath the pixel only confirmed that this room indeed belonged to her.

“Is this supposed to be my room?” Shirogane inquired.

“Well we figured that since our faces appear one of the plaques on each door that this must be our bedrooms or dorms… or something.” Ikeda answered. “But we can’t enter. At all. We’ve tried with every door and no luck.”

Amami got a closer look at Shirogane’s door to see if there was any indication of how to unlock it. He noticed that there seemed to be a clear square just above the door handle.

“Is it possible that this square could act as some sort of lock?” He questioned, looking to his new classmates for any answers.

Ippongi furrowed his brow, trying to come up with some sort of answer, while Ikeda and Azuma looked to the side in thought. All three of them had noticed that feature of the door, yet had now answer as to how it worked.

“Maybe there’s a key we need to locate! Amami! Shirogane! Have you noticed anything that constitutes as a key?” Ippongi demanded, getting closer to his original volume.  
Both students in question took a few seconds to think of anything in the previous floor that could be used as a key, but to no avail.

“Sorry” Amami curtly answered. “When we first woke up, our concern was trying to figure out our situation, and thus we weren’t particularly looking for any sort of key.”

“That is perfectly reasonable, given our situation. You need not feel poorly about it” Azuma reassuringly said.

Amami and Shirogane both felt glad that Azuma was so calm and considerate in these uncertain circumstances. They had hoped that the rest of the students they were to meet were this thoughtful.

“Amami-kun, I know what you’re thinking and your room is actually the first door on the left-hand side of this hallway; the furthest away from Shirogane-san’s.” Ikeda chimed.

Amami quickly went to the other end of the hallway to find his door, complete with a pixelated image and his name in black calligraphy. He tried to open it, just in case, but the results were the same; it wouldn’t budge.

“Before me and Amami-kun go upstairs, is there anything else we should know about this floor?” Shirogane asked, slightly pensive at the thought of new information.

“Just one” Ikeda replied. “There’s a monitor right next to the stairs you’re about to use” Ikeda said, pointing to a rather large monitor with several speakers of various sizes coming out from it.

“They’re everywhere!” Ippongi contributed

Amami couldn’t remember if there were any monitors on the previous floor, though he remembered seeing one in the classroom him and Shirogane came out off he thought nothing of it at the time. He would need to ask Tachibana and Nana when he next saw them.

“ At any rate, thanks you guys. We’re gonna check the next floor and if we find anything we’ll let you all know” Amami started, desperate to find out what awaited above him.

Ikeda and Azuma nodded in agreement, whilst Ippongi saluted them and wished them both good luck.

Amami and Shirogane turned and made their way to the end of the hallway and towards the new set of stairs. Just as they were about to ascend the stairs, both of them felt a hand on their respective shoulders. Amami and Shirogane turned around at the same time to find…

Azuma radiating serenely and cupping each of their shoulders. Ippongi and Ikeda were in a heated discussion, or rather Ippongi was displaying his eccentric moves, with Ikeda looking on.

“I understand that this must be a stressful position for you two” Azuma began “And i do not believe for a second that either of you are guilty in any way. However…”

In an instant her expression turned, almost demonic “If I find that either of you are responsible for our captivity in any capacity, I will see to it that you receive your just dues. Amami. Shirogane. Are we clear on this?”

“Understood” Was all both of them needed to say.

It was another moment before Azuma returned to her classical expression, no doubt from years of training. “Well then I wish you all of the best in your explorations”

And with that she returned to her other classmates.

As they made their way up the stairs it was a while before Shirogane broke the silence “She would make a great traitor and final boss”

“Yeah.” Amami could only muster.

Though the number of stairs were the same as the first time, it felt like far longer before Amami and Shirogane made their way up to the next floor.

                                                                                                    ****

As soon as they both made their way up to the third floor, what was most striking was the fact that there didn’t seem to be a hallway, unlike the previous two floors. Instead Amami and Shirogane were greeted with an extremely small and cramped foyer with a single door.

Before either of them had any time to inspect their little enviroment another student, a tall girl, made it her business to introduce herself.

“Hey! I’ve not seen you before!”

“Yeah, both of us just woke up and came from the bottom floor” Amami stated

The person standing in front of them began to whisper into their shirt for a few seconds, which left Amami and Shirogane confused to say the least. Shirogane was about to question what they were doing when...

“Look Iris new people! Let’s say hi!” exclaimed the new student.

The next thing that happened was that something seemed to move on the girl. It was black with red specks and about the size of her palm. The object crawled under her shirt for a few more seconds before making an appearance.

“Is that a spider?” enquired Shirogane, seemingly calm

“Yeah! A black widow spider to be exact.”

Amami recoiled in horror taking a few steps back. “No no no! Fuck this! I am not about this life!

The girl pouted, clearly upset that Amami wasn’t a fan of the spider.

Shirogane turned to Amami with a surprised expression. “Amami-kun, are you afraid of spiders?”

“Irritated is the better word!” Amami snapped back. “And how are you alright with this Shirogane-san?”

Shirogane started to beam “Well to be fair, spiders are common enough within video games; whether they be your run of the mill enemy's, henchmen bosses, part of the scenery or even a motif for design, spiders have been a constant features within all types of video games.”

Amami gave a long sigh, while the other girl was smiling at Shirogane

“Sorry Amami-kun, it would be ridiculous of me to be frightened of spiders, especially when I’ve had so much experience and exposure to them” Shirogane stated, shrugging her shoulders

“You should listen to your friend. Spiders in particular have gotten a very bad reputation based on misunderstanding and fear. The girl boldly declared. “That’s why I, Noa Park, have made it my life’s mission to educate the human race on the wonders of spiders!

[[ NOA PARK: SUPER-HIGH SCHOOL LEVEL ARACHNOLOGIST]]

“Iris also gives her greetings!”

Amami was still standing a few feet away from Park and Shirogane didn’t make any attempt to move any closer. He had some awful experiences with spiders, often encountering them while travelling. However his disdain of spiders didn’t come from travelling at all.

Park gave a glazed look towards Amami “ Don’t worry Amami, I’ll make a believer out of you yet!”

“Doubtful” he muttered, before receiving a stern look from Shirogane.

“Anyways….” Amami began “How has your exploration going so far?”

“Well there’s only one more floor after this, and so far none of us have been able to get pass the double doors” Park said “Oh! But if you’re talking about the floor we’re on now, there’s a huuuuuge industrial kitchen with a beautiful dining room to match”

“Park-san, that being the case, why are you out here?” Shirogane wondered out loud.

Park pouted her lips, giving off a grumpy expression. “Well if you must know, apparently having a spider in a food preparation area is considered unhygienic and a hazard” Park was giving quotation marks, emphasising certain words.

“That’s terrible” Shirogane noted

“Sounds fair” Amami countered

Shirogane shot Amami another stern look as Park continued on.

“I’m obviously not going to leave Iris behind, so I agreed to explore this foyer. And so far nothing interesting so far.”

Amami saw no reason to stay in this cramped foyer any longer. “Well in that case, I think me and Shirogane-san will want to check out the rest of this floor and the one above.”

Shirogane sensing Amami’s anxiety continued on. “That’s right! So, Park-san we’ll be on our way now. If you find anything interesting, then please let us know.”

“Sure! But…” Park hesitated “ Promise me you’ll come spend some time with me and Iris. Shirogane, even you Amami have been two of the nicest people to me so far.”

“You know what Park-san, it would be our pleasure” Shirogane said, smiling whilst making her way to the singular door with Amami in tow.

“Thank you both!” came the reply

“No problem…” Amami whispered

And with that both students had left Park in a better mood to explore the foyer, as they entered the door to find a very large and professional looking kitchen, complete with several chrome-coloured cookers and ovens, numerous fridges and various overhead cupboards housing what was assumed to be items related to the kitchen. Amami had begun to investigate the cupboards, finding various ingredients and kitchen utensils with each new cupboard he opened.

“Impressive” Amami muttered towards Shirogane

Before Shirogane was able to answer back, both of them were interrupted.

“Excuse me, but what do you think you’re doing?”

Amami and Shirogane turned around to find where the voice came from. It took them a while to find where the voice was coming from. But once they found it, it made sense why they had difficulty in locating the person.

“Aah! Well… Hello” It was clear that Shirogane was stumbling with her words.

And it was clear why. Standing before both Amami and Shirogane was a person who looked like they belonged in elementary school; they were a good deal shorter than anyone else they had meet so far. Add to that they had an orange afro and cyberpunk goggles, the boy certainly had a unique look about him. ‘Unique” indeed, Amami thought, though he dare did not vocalize those thoughts.

“Take a picture, why don’tcha!? It’ll last longer!” Shot back the short boy.

“What!? No n-no, It’s nothing like that!” Shirogane countered, clearly unnerved by the one standing in front of them.

“Y-yeah we’re just going around and introducing ourselves to everyone. We don’t mean any harm.” Added Amami, trying to support Shirogane.

The boy took a deep breath, lasting far longer than Amami and Shirogane would have liked. Afterwards he looked up at both of them.

“Sorry. I don’t mean to be on the defensive like that. I get paranoid when meeting people for the first time and go on the offensive. Not trying to justify it, just giving some insight.” Sighed the short boy.

“No worries.” Replied Amami “Would it be ok if we introduced ourselves?”

“...Sure. Osamu Nagai. Sushi chef. Maybe once this is all over I’ll make everyone some sublime Japanese cuisine.”

[[OSAMU NAGAI: SUPER-HIGH SCHOOL ITAMAE]]

Amami and Shirogane gave their usual introductions, careful not to anger or antagonise Nagai anymore.

“Well then Nagai-kun you must feel very much at home in this kitchen, being the SHSL Itamae…” noted Shirogane

“Yep” came the reply

…

“Are you unhappy with us investigating the kitchen? This being related to your talent and all…” Amami was starting to feel that Nagai was anxious or at the very least pissed that both of them were snooping through what could be considered his kitchen; his domain.

“Yep” Once again came the reply

…  
Nagai at this point was staring down both Amami and Shirogane and suffice to say it was beginning to become unsettling.

“Nagai-san I understand that this is important to you but really, would it kill you to be more welcoming?” Came the mysterious voice.

All three of them turned to where the voice came and saw a person emerging from a heavy door that was located between two fridges.

“By the way Nagai-kun I checked the freezer and there’s a variety of ingredients that I’m sure you’ll be impressed with. They seem really high quality too.”

This seemed to please Nagai who began to show a subtle smile. “Thanks”

The other person, a foreign looking boy smiled at Nagai before turning his attention towards Amami and Shirogane.

“It’s nice to meet some more of our classmates. Assuming that we are classmates. Even if we’re not classmates it’s still nice to meet both you.

Amami and Shirogane nodded, with Amami finding himself with a coy smile.

“Well before I start rambling, my name is Aadi Liechi . I was privileged enough to be invited to Hope’s Peak Academy to complete my education. A pleasure to meet you.”

[[AADI LIECHI: SUPER-HIGH SCHOOL LEVEL ABSTRACT]]

“Oh and don’t worry about introducing yourselves, Amami-san and Shirogane-san; I already heard you all when you were talking to Nagai-san” Beamed Liechi. “But SHSL Retro Gamer and Adventurer, those are pretty unique…”

Amami couldn’t help but smile at that, hearing a sincere remark about his talent, although it appeared that sincere compliment was lost on Shirogane.

“So… what exactly does a SHSL Abstract do?” inquired Shirogane.

“It’s a long story, I promise I can explain it you another time if you like.” Replied Liechi “ To satisfy your curiosity for now: I’m weird for the sake of being weird”

Amami nodded, still smiling at Liechi “Sounds… interesting. That’d be great if you could give us a more in-depth explanation of your talent, Liechi-kun”.

“Certainly, though I would much rather prefer to go into detail at a more suitable time” Liechi stated, looking towards Nagai who was growing more irritated with Amami and Shirogane.

Shirogane glancing over towards Nagai made a point to join in the conversation. “Yeah… sounds good. Amami-kun, perhaps we should finish investigating before we relax…”

“About time” Nagai muttered under his breath before addressing the duo.”Just beyond those wooden doors is access to the dining room. Nothing impressive mind you, but there’s some other people there. Introduce yourselves or whatever....”

“And after that is a very long set of stairs with a locked door. We cannot seem to get access to it and there are some other students working on it” Liechi added

“Right” Amami was sensing that Nagai that was going to snap. He and Shirogane made their way to the double doors giving both Liechi and Nagai their goodbyes. Liechi returned the goodbye, Nagai did not.

The dining room, true to Nagai’s blunt explanation was nothing impressive. In fact it was very cramped with the low ceilings making an unwelcome return as well as numerous tables being crammed together with barely any room to maneuver. Despite the claustrophobic atmosphere Amami spotted two students; one white-haired doing stretches using the table as support and the other student, wearing a tattered old hoody staring blankly at the first student.

Both sets of students had noticed each other and made their way to the middle of the dining room where there was a small foyer, which was surprisingly spacious, especially given how cramped everything else was.

Amami and Shirogane had decided to introduce themselves first this time. The boy stretching seemed enthusiastic to say the least, whereas the girl seemed drained for energy.

The student stretching began their introduction, while stretching and posturing their upper body. “ Hey we ain’t meet ya yet! Well no time like the present, name’s Zenko Rikimaru: Triathlete.”

[[ ZENKO RIKIMARU: SUPER-HIGH SCHOOL LEVEL TRIATHLETE]]

“I’ve heard of you!” Shirogane exclaimed. “You’ve won numerous triathlons around the world including the notorious Ironman. I also remember seeing you on several programmes, getting the nation into triathlons, even go so far as to set up events of the kind all across Japan.”

“Haha thanks!” Rikimaru replied, blushing. “It’s really no big deal, I just do what I can to help”

The other student nudged Rikimaru in his abdomen with his elbow. “No man you’re way too humble. It is impressive and you should be proud. Better than my shitty little talent…”

Rikimaru sighed and laughed nervously, while Amami and Shirogane glanced at each other, unsure of how to respond.

The student in question gave an exaggerated sigh before beginning to speak. “ Mako Suzumiya and my talent is… wait for it… Super-High School Level Luckster!” Suzumiya at this point was curtseying and had taking on a sarcastic tone of voice. “Spectacular isn’t it? Save your adoration for lady luck though”

[[ MAKO SUZUMIYA: SUPER-HIGH SCHOOL LEVEL LUCKSTER]]

Rikimaru gave a tense smile towards Suzumiya “ Now Suzumiya-chan, there’s no need to be so negative…”

 “Not being negative, it’s the truth. I have a shit talent, especially in comparison to the rest of you. I mean how am I supposed to compete with a retro gamer and adventurer and a triathlete? I can’t so why bother?” Suzumiya retorted, struggling to find the energy to finish her sentences.

Amami gave a nervous laugh, while Shirogane started fidgeting nervously.

“Well anyway it’s nice to meet you both, but we should get going, I’m sure there are loads of other students to meet…” Shirogane trailed off.

“There’s only a few left and boy are those the few you don’t want to meet” Suzumiya was practically robotic at this point, looking towards the ground.

“Don’t say that Suzumiya! They’re great… just different great is all.” Rikimaru argued.

At this point Amami wanted to meet the final students and wanted to find out what was going on with their situation. With a quick goodbye both him and Shirogane made their way to the final set of stairs.

                                                                                                     ****

What was most noticeable about the final set of stairs was two things. First, just how long and narrow it was. Amami had to have counted several dozen individual stairs before he could see the double door at the top. Second, was that the stairs were made of a different material; marble to be exact. The interior design and dimensions of their captivity was unsettling to say the least; but with the addition of these stairs it went from unsettling to simply impossible. That coupled with the gentle rocking of wherever they were and the low ambient noise still present made for a jarring atmosphere.

At the bottom of the stairs was a person wearing an old flat cap with an expensive looking camera hanging from their neck. They noticed the two students, but took a few more moments writing in their book before looking up.

Amami and Shirogane stood there for a few moments waiting. Afterwards they gave their introductions, hoping it would coerce the other student into at least talking. The student in question smiled at them as they were giving their introductions and as soon as Shirogane had finished…  
“Greetings from here now/ Gou Sarushiro my name/ the pleasure is mine”

Suffice to say both students were taken back by Sarushio’s odd speech pattern.

“Hmm is there a reason you’re talking like that” Shirogane asked

“My style of speaking/ is my homage to haiku/ it means everything” Sarushio hummed.

“Ah I thought as much.” Amami chimed in. With your odd style of speaking and the camera does your talent have anything to do with poetry?”

“That much is correct/ SHSL Haiku chi/ my talent is me”

[[ GOU SARUSHIRO: SUPER-HIGH SCHOOL LEVEL HAIKU MASTER]]

_*Snap snap*_

After Sarushiro’s performance he suddenly started taking pictures; pictures of Amami and Shirogane, pictures of himself and pictures of his surroundings.

“Hey! You should ask people’s permission before you take their picture!” shouted Shirogane pointing angrily at Sarushiro.

“Shhhhhh” Sarushiro put a finger up to Shirogane’s lips. “Never disturb an artist at work, these pictures will make great accompaniments with my haikus”

Aside from the fact that Sarushiro had returned to a somewhat normal speech, Amami was worried that Shirogane was going to hurt him so he made a quick excuse to Sarushiro about wanting to meet the rest of the students, grabbed Shirogane who was at this point fuming by the wrist and started walking up the stairs.

“ Remember this now/ haiku is indeed lasting/ embrace the artist” noted Sarushiro

As both the students began their ascent Amami heard Shirogane mutter “jackass” under her breath. He nodded in agreement.

As both of them made their way to the top they noticed that located on each side of the door was a small alcove, small enough for one person to sit. And indeed in each of the alcoves was a person sitting. Both of them noticed Amami and Shirogane and got up.

The first person, a girl with blonde hair and a pink sleeveless top nodded towards Amami and Shirogane’s direction.

Amami could have sworn that he had met this girl before somewhere. At the very least he certainly recognised her. The girl in question was looking at both of them as if she knew them as well. After a few seconds she started.

“Glad you’re both alright and we could meet you. My name is Kiku Akamatsu and I’m the SHSL Taiko Drummer

[[KIKU AKAMATSU: SUPER-HIGH SCHOOL LEVEL TAIKO DRUMMER]]

Introductions between the three students were exchanged and Amami noticed how eager Shirogane was to talk to Akamatsu. Something about Traditional japanese music within video games and how she was a pioneer for the traditional arts, he could barely keep up with the conversation.

It was only because Akamatsu and Shirogane were so engrossed in conversation that he noticed the other person. A very tall woman in a head to toe dark green military style uniform. She seemed to be observing the three students and it honestly frightened Amami just how her golden eyes were trained on them.

“Kukuku. Such fascinating humans. We really have a wonderful bunch of students here don’t we? It truly is amazing to see how ugly humans can be when held in captivity. Ah but I suppose you would like me to introduce myself, no?”

At this point Akamatsu and Shirogane had stopped their conversation and turned to the mystery woman, who seemed to be able to command attention without any effort on her part.

“Oh my, a captive audience! Well then I shan’t disappoint. I am called Miyadera Shinguuji. A pleasure to meet you all”

The three stood in silence before Akamatsu broke the silence. “Hey Shinguuji-san, quick question: you never told us your talent. What is it?”

“... I prefer to keep quiet on that for now. Personal reasons mind you. After all it is far more interesting that not everyone reveals their true self, would you not agree?” came the reply.

…

[[MIYADERA SHINGUUJI: SUPER-HIGH SCHOOL LEVEL ????]]

The three stared at Shinguji with varying levels of apprehension on their face. Amami certainly was in no mood to deal with this woman and her cryptic personality. He wanted to give her a piece of his mind. But before he even had the chance…

_*Ding-dong Ding-dong*_

The next thing that happened was that the monitors attached overhead to the walls suddenly came to life. And on that monitor appeared to be a large silhouette sitting on a throne, with five smaller silhouettes sitting a level below. If that wasn't strange enough the silhouette began to move and address the monitor.

“Mic check Mic check! Can you all hear me roar!? Well can you!? At any rate I see you’ve all become buddy-buddy with each other and that’s sweet, almost. But let’s get real here; there’s only one important one and that’s me, the rest of you are supporting cast. So with that being said can all of you please make your way to the what I like to call “Roof Garden” located at the top of the marble stairway to heaven! Upupupupu I look forward to seeing you all there! And remember… you do not have a choice…”

And with that the monitor cut to static. Before anyone had a chance to react the double doors slowly but surely began to open. Amami knew at this point they were no longer alone in this abandoned place. That voice alone filled him with what could only be described as despair.

“Well now things have taken a turn. Our captors have made it a point to address us directly” Shinguuji noted

“I guess there’s nothing left but for us to find out what exactly is going on.” Akamatsu added, clearly nervous.

With trepidation Amami and the others made their way through the double doors. They all knew that their situation was about to become far more intense.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there we have it.
> 
> Fun fact: I was originally going to name Park's spider Bertrand to pay homage to Magorgle's Legacy of Despair
> 
> Quick note: The next chapter will be the last part of the prologue. After that I will be doing free time events for the students so if there is anyone you would like to see more of, please vote in the comments below!


	3. Prologue: The Prelude to 53, Part Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the delays
> 
> The final part of the prologue is here. Remember if there are any characters you would like to spend some free time with, please vote in the comments below, I'd really appreciate it!

With the announcement being played on all the monitors available, it didn't take long for the rest of the students to make their way up to the roof garden. In fact once all sixteen students had gathered, they were waiting for quite some time and it began to irritate most of them, Amami and Shirogane included. While looking around and observing his surroundings, Amami noticed that despite being called a roof garden, there wasn't anywhere near enough greenery to justify calling the enclosed space a garden. Just a few  flower pots scattered around and hanging from the ceiling. He also noticed that the ceiling and walls were made of glass and covered in a black and white design tarp; keeping the outside scenery a complete mystery to the captive students.

The other notable feature in this lacklustre space was a large stage tucked at the back with a wooden podium at the front, red velvet curtains and not much else. Design wise this was a very surreal roof garden, but when compared with the rest of the environment it actually fits right in.

"I see you also noticed the enclosing and eclectic design sense, Amami-kun".

Amami turned around expecting to see Shirogane come to the same conclusion he had. Suffice to say he was more than surprised when he found that the statement came from Shinguuji, expression and voice completely unreadable.

"Y-yeah." Amami stuttered, clearly intimidated by the woman standing in front of him." This entire place has been designed very oddly wouldn't you say?"

Shinguuji nodded in agreement "It certainly is. That our captor or captors would see it fit to trap us in such an... unnatural environment; it would all be so beautiful if it wasn't so horrendous."

And with that Shinguuji turned on her feet and went to join the majority of the group. Amami let out a quiet sigh once she was out of earshot. Shinguuji was clearly a very intelligent woman, but there was something very sinister about her and Amami knew that he would have to keep an eye on her.

"Amami-kun, is everything all right?" Came another voice.

Once again, Amami turned around exprecting to see Shirogane and once again he was surprised when he realised that Shirogane hadn't been the one to ask; she was standing near enough to Amami, yet it wasn't her who addressed Amami.

It was Liechi, who had made a point to put his hand on Amami's shoulder and offer a smile.

 "Shinguuji-san is an intense woman isn't she? I think she means well for the most part;but she just comes off the wrong way, don't you think?" Liechi said, giving a gazing look.

 "Yeah... It's just this entire situation has thrown all of us, myself included." Amami replied

 "That's understandable. But I'm sure everything will work itself out; after all we are the Super-High School Levels aren't we? Yeah, it's probably best to keep optimistic, I think." Pressed Liechi, flashing a smile.

Amami smiled back. "You're right. With all of us here it'll be all right."

 "So you would rather take the optimistic approach?" A third voice cutting through the conversation.

This time the statement came from Akamatsu, who had a blank look on her face. "I'm not one for optimism, so it's a sight when I see someone else perform it. Kinda reminds me of someone I know; optimistic to a fault, but her heart is in the right place."

Liechi turned his neck to Akamatsu, clearly surprised at the third person in the conversation. "So you don't think we should be optimistic?"

 "We've been kidnapped, placed in a strange place and have suddenly been summoned and have been kept waiting for quite some time." At this point Akamatsu and her tirade had gotten everyone's attention. "I'm not being negative here, I'm just stating facts.

 Liechi had tensed up at the newfound attention, gripping Amami's shoulders slightly tighter for support. "Well yes, our situation doesn't look good but that doesn't mean it's all bad. I just want to know where we stand before making an emotional investment, you know?"

There were general murmurs of consent from the other students. Liechi had released his grip of Amami's shoulders and Shirogane had walked up and stood by Amami's side. She looked both terrified and ashamed.

 Akamatsu still kept a blank expression on her face before her expression turned between a mixture of fright and malice.

" I don't think you understand just how bad our situation is Liechi-kun. We are in very big trouble here. How do you not see this? "

 "Upupupupupu, sweetheart, you don't even know the half of it!"

 The same nauseating voice that made the announcement earlier had suddenly permeated the room leaving almost all the students speechless. Almost all of the students bar one were frozen in place.

"Whoever you are, reveal yourself this instant." Azuma said sternly, making her way towards the front of the group, taking on a very intimidating demeanour.

"...Upupupu... if the glamorised prostitute says so, who am I to deny that request?!

Azuma widened her eyes at the crass statement and was ready to retaliate to that offence. But before she could a black and white blur suddenly started making its way around the rooftop garden moving at a lightning pace. After a few seconds the blur started to slow down and finally descended to the stage.

Some members of the group let out a small gasp upon discovering what the black and white blur was. Amami thought to himself how ridiculous this all was. But ridiculous or not it was certainly real. A two-tone teddy bear it was. 

* * *

  "Well well, a pleasure to meet all of you! I see you bastards have gotten all friendly, all chummy-chummy, right? Well that's over now that I'm here." The mysterious bear stated, not making any sort of oral movement, instead displaying its emotion through body language.

Kitaki sneered, clearly unimpressed. "And just what are  _you_ supposed to be?" the venom practically dripping out of her voice.

"Well talking cigarette I'm glad you asked. Listen up students because I'm only saying this once. I'm Monobear. And I'm the master c-... well we will get to my official title later on! Upupupupu!"

The bear in question was taking on a very theatrical performance, playing with the voice function and making eccentric movements with its body.

"Monokuma, tell us this: Why did Hope's Peak Academy render us all unconscious and bring us here?" inquired Rikimaru.

"Oh that's old news! You're not at Hope's Peak Academy, not even close!" So just forget about it. This rooftop garden here is where it's at." The bear replied.

"So wait we're not in school anymore?" Ikeda asked

"Nope!" Monokuma gestured. "Hope's Peak Academy is all but a distant memory right now~"

"Then where exactly have you taken Nana and friends?!" Hayashi said puffing out her cheeks.

At this point Amami had a thought. He had wondered whether the swaying of most of the rooms and the low ambient sound had anything to do with where they were.

Somehow Monokuma had detected Amami's expression and turned their attention towards him. "Something on your mind Amami-kun? Tell me where do you think we are?"

All 15 other students had turned towards Amami with varying looks on their faces. Some of confusion, others of hostility. Even a few resembling hope. Amami took a deep breath before starting. "Well given the fact that most everywhere is slowly rocking from side to side and the sound, this is a very wild guess, but I'd have to say we are in some sort of vehicle.

The reaction Amami received from the rest of his students was that of doubt and disdain.

"Honesty expecting better from you Amami-kun" Suzumiya sighed.

"That has to be the most idiotic thing I've heard today and that's impressive." Kitaki spitefully said.

Tachibana had raised his hand trying to calm some of the more vocal students down. "Now, now, no need to get on Amami-kun! Remember he's a Libra! They're known for being flighty and not being able to commit to, anything really. After all they're an air sign."

"I doubt zodiac signs have anything to do with our situation" Nagai coolly stated.

"So cool and collected! Give me some time, I'll peg you down." Tachibana replied.

Shirogane made a point to get the groups attention by half shouting. "Everyone please! Let Amami-kun finish.

Silence.

"Thank you Shirogane-san" Amami sighed before continuing. "It's just that... with how much I've travelled around the globe a good portion of my time is spent in different modes of transportation . I honestly had this suspicion from the beginning as soon as I woke up." Amami took another deep breath. " If I had to guess we're in some form of transportation. But that's impossible!"

"Upupupu! Says you limestone!" Don't you know that Monobear defies all laws of physics and spits on all forms of reality?!"

As soon as Monobear was finished, they made a point to make some weird hand gestures and signals while chanting "Va-va-valuse!" continuously.

And with that the tarps covering the glass walls suddenly dropped to the ground . The moving scenery,  the natural landscape, the repetitive motifs. There was no doubt at this point.

This class of Hope's Peak Academy. They were on a train.

"WELCOME TO THE MONOTRAIN!!

* * *

 If chaos hadn't ensured when Monobear made his entrance it certainly had now. All the students began speaking at once, voicing their own opinion and emotion as best they could.

 "Wh-wh-WHAT!?" Screamed Liechi, the colour starting to drain from his face.

"THIS IS NOT REAL! NOT REAL!" Bellowed Ippongi clenching both of his fist tightly, stretching the fabric of his white gloves.

"Shit, fucking, shit!" mumbled Nagai gripping his left arm.

While most of the students reacted with rage or disbelief there were a few students who had a different reaction. Shinguuji and Akamatsu were relatively quiet with the former muttering to herself, while the latter had closed her eyes and started breathing in deeply.

However one student had a much more severe, aggressive reaction to the revelation.

"How dare you! You think you have any right to treat the student body of Hope's Peak Academy like this?!"

All the other students quieted down, amazed at the aggressive tone their classmate was taking.

"That you can even proclaim that we are on a train is ridiculous enough. And I will not stand for this"

At this point Azuma had taken on a much more aggressive demeanour than would be associated with her regal appearance. She begins to approach Monobear; her body language demonstrating one of pure yet restrained anger.

Monobear was, unsurprisingly, not affected by their opponent.

 "Azuma-san, please/ you must not antagonise/ we are in trouble" Sarushiro noted, pursing his lips together.

"Aya-chan! Gou-chan is right! Nana thinks you're half-baked and undercooked at this point!" Hayashi shouted, waving her hands.

At this point Azuma wasn't listening, instead she had stormed up to Monobear and grabbed them by their throat, or were the head and the rest of their body meets. She held up Monobear to eye level. "Now, whoever you are. I am not a violent woman by any stretch of the imagination. If you are willing to cooperate with us then we can all leave this situation. Would you not like that?" Azuma had spoken very slowly.

It was only a few seconds before Monobear started shaking very violently. "Violence against Monobear is forbidden!" "Violence against Monobear is forbidden!"

A loud deafening alarm sound started emitting from Monbear as well as numerous red lights. Azuma at this point was shocked but still kept a firm grip on Monobear. The noises and lights became more and more frantic. Most of the remaning students started shouting at Azuma to put the bear down. But she wouldn't listen. Her grip and steel-cold glare was kept solely on Monobear.

It was only when Shinguuji ran towards Azuma and tackled her to the ground that she finally let go of Monobear. Shinguuji quickly grabbed Monobear and chucked them towards the sky. A few seconds later a deafing explosion came and went, seemingly destroying Monobear.

Unsurprisingly this left everyone speechless, Azuma included, who tried to speak, but was unable to.

Shinguuji simply raised her head and looked towards the ceiling where the explosion took place. "It was not your time nor place to do that Azuma-san."

After that cryptic message the students had began to wonder whether that was it and whether this was an entire joke. But Amami knew better than to think this was all over. No it had only just begun.

"Upupupu! That was a close one Azuma! Had you not been saved by fatigues over there, you'd have been a goner!" Monobear screeched, jumping out from the same place where they first came from.

If it wasn't already clear to the students before it certainly was now. Monobear meant business and was not someone to be messed with.

Monobear started pacing back and forth on the stage making very exaggerated moves with what one could assume were meant to be their hips. "Now before I was interrupted I didn't even get a chance to explain why you bastards are here!"

...

Silence

"No interruptions this time, huh? Well that's a first, I suppose. Anypoo, yes, as you ingrates may have already witnessed, you are on a train! Fascinating no?! But that's not the best part, not by a long shot! Do you know why you bastards were brought here?!"

...

Silence

This was it. This was what Amami and the rest were waiting for. To finally found out why they were brought to this weird place. Amami had no idea what was to come but he knew it was going to be awful, to say the least.

This time it was Park who spoke up. "Umm... I was talking to Iris and she says that this reminds her a lot of a murder mystery setup. What with all of us being trapped and our kidnapper talking to us. Iris loves murder mysteries so she thinks you want us to do something like that. Maybee?

Most of the students let out an audible gasp. Amami included. Meanwhile Monobear was giggling to themself. "Upupu! Clever spider! Though I don't know why she'd pair up with someone like you. But I digress. So let me explain this as simply as I can." At this point Monobear had gotten up on the podium on top of the stage and stood still. This was momentarily as Monobear suddenly started to jump and perform a back flip each time while screaming at the students:

 "THE!"

"MUTUAL!"

"GAME!

"OF!"

"KILLING!"

* * *

 That's right students-, er I mean participants- I mean esteemed guests. The Mutual Game of Killing! This time I intend to go all out and I know it'll be a doozy!" Monobear bragged jiggling in place.

"...why?" Amami was stunned that this all going on. That was all that came out of his mouth at first and even that was a struggle. " Why... would you do this to us? What have we done to you to deserve this?"

"You know Amami-kun, I get asked that a lot. And each time I always answer the same. This world is far too much infused with Hope! Hope, Hope, Hope... it's enough to make an endangered mammal like me cry!" Monobear sniffed. "But I digress. There is too much hope in this hope-filled rotten world. And my daddy always told me to be the change you want to see! After I slaughtered him I decided to do just that! So to make a long story short Amami-kun I'm doing this because I want to inject despair into this world. Imagine all the students of Hope's Peak trapped with no way out! Upupupu it's beautiful! Despairingly beautiful!

"What do you mean there's no way out?! That's ridiculous there has to be a way out! I don't believe you for a second!" Shirogane had clearly taken Monobear's tangent to heart and was taking deep breaths.

 "Sweetheart, there really isn't!" taunted Monobear. "Welllll, there may be a way out here. Do you want to know?"

"What sort of ridiculous question is that?! Of course we want to know!" shouted Kitaki with a scowl to match.

"Listen Monobear/explain your intentions, stat/ what is the answer?" Sarushiro cooed

Monobear had begun to sit still atop the podium and was silent for a few seconds. "Well I could go on some really long diatribe about how complex this killing game is... but I won't."

Monobear at this point sat in the kowtowing position, looking comically serene. "If you want to really get out of Monotrain, though I couldn't imagine why it's very simple: Commit a murder, deceive your peers and get away with it!

At this point the atmosphere had changed. The situation was abysmal enough before, yet now there was a looming threat over the students heads. In order to escape this school bloodshed would be had.

"Why do I get the feeling that it ain't gonna be that simple" noted Rikimaru

"Beaten to the punch by one of my own students huh?" said Monobear" Well of course it wouldn't be fun if it were THAAAAAT simple. Y'see once a murder occurs a school trial will be held! At your very own trial grounds! You have an entire trial ground to yourselves, ain't that exciting?! But I digress. In the school trial you will attempt to find the culprit who committed the murder and vote for 'whodunnit'. Get it correct and the culprit will be punished for their crimes. Get it incorrect and the culprit is free to leave the Monotrain. And the rest of you face mass punishment."

Monobear paused in the middle of their rant and made it a point to stand up, possibly to emphasis their final point. "I'm sure some of you bastards have figured it out, but to just to make it very clear, undeniably clear, so that the slow one amongst you doesn't ask me... punishment in all scenarios is... DEATH!!!

There it was. The main point of the game was established now. And it showed on the students faces, some fear, some apathy, some anger, some blank.

Amami was hyperventilating at this point unable to believe what he just heard. 'This is insane! I can't believe anyone would ever fall for this! I'm sure nothing will happen and we'll all be all right. Right?' But he knew he was being far too naive. He knew it was only a matter of time. He knew that he couldn't speak for the people he just met.

Monobear's plan had worked. They were no longer the sole enemy. The students were now in competition to get out of here; at the cost of everyone else's demise.

The students began to measure each other up and there was an atmosphere of distrust, pain and anxiety in the rooftop garden.

An atmosphere of despair.

"There's a lot more to go over, but I'm tired of the exposition for now. So instead I'm going to hand out your Monopad. Think of it as your own personal E-handbook; everything you need to know about our wonderful life on the Monotrain is right here! From the train rules to maps to everything budding dipshits like you require, it's all there!" And with that Monobear chucked what looked to be rectangles up into the air before landing in front of each student. 

"Take care of your Monopads! All right kids I think that's enough for today, Monobear is super tired from being a conductor, or whatever I said I was. Oh but don't you bastards worry, we'll meet again soon. I guarantee that! So from the bottom of my stone-cold heart I wish you fiftee-" Monobear stopped speaking mid-sentence. 

"UPUPUPU!!" Monobear started laughing manically. "AHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

 Suzumiya furrowed her eyebrows, saying what everyone was thinking "What is so funny, bear?" 

"It's just so wonderful! In my wildest nightmares I never thought this would happen!" came the reply " Hmm, you're really gonna do this aren't you? You actually believe that you stand a chance!?" It wasn't clear who Monobear was addressing anymore. "Oh right! To answer your question, let me ask a question of my own: The number fifteen is a pretty official and rounded number isn't it?"

Tachibana's expression brightened. "Monobear's right. Numbers play a very important part in our lives and are integral to both astrology and numerology. There are certain numbers which could be considered 'unofficially official'; these are numbers usually ending in zero or five as well as most single digits. The number fifteen is quite mystical in nature! Did you know that--"

Nagai had cleared his throat, grabbing Tachibana's hand ever so slightly" Tachibana as interesting as this is would it be all right if we saved it for another time?" Nagai motioned to Monobear indicating that this was of more importance.

"Ahh, sure Nagai-kun..." Tachibana said, embarrassed at his ramblings.

"Thank god, I thought he'd never stop talking" Kitaki stated.

" Kitaki, shut up, you're not helping. Like at all." replied Ikeda.

"Guys maybe we should let Monobear finished. Iris is telling me that Monobear is getting angry..." Park whistled, cupping Iris in both her palms.

"Good spider! I almost feel bad that it's the best bastard out of all of you! But as I was saying the numbers simply don't add up, if you ask me. Think about it. Or don't. Upupupu! Conductor Monobear Out!" The toy taunted before vanishing into thin air.

* * *

 Monobear left, the students were left stunned. No one really knew what to say in this situation, much less how to articulate what just happened. Though some students tried.

"Well that was bad." noted Ikeda

"Real helpful there" Suzumiya shot back "That was disgusting, is what that was."

"What happens now?" inquired Rikimaru

Amami was in no shape to give any commentary about the situation. He was beyond exhausted at what had transpired. And it was obvious looking at the students faces that they mostly felt the same. Which was why he was more than surprised when Shirogane spoke up.

"E-everyone please! We can't let this situation get out of hand. Monobear's laid out the major rules; it's now up to us how we act. I understand everyone is frightened and truthfully so am I!" Shirogane took a deep breath before continuing. "But we need to work together if we have any hope of escaping here with our lives. I suggest we take the rest of the day off, get ourselves collected. Tomorrow we should meet up at the dining room and discuss from there out plan.

There was a murmur of general assent and the students began to leave the rooftop garden, some in a better mood, others not so much. Azuma made it a point to apologise for her behaviour before wandering off, still dizzy at how close she was to death.

As Amami was leaving he flashed a quick smile towards Shirogane who returned the favour. Even though he was done he felt he had to do at least that much. Perhaps things won't be so bad. If this carried on, perhaps they will all get out alive. One thing was for certain though.

What happens from here on out is all up to them.

And with that final thought Amami wound up back in his room and collapsed on the bed.

...

Shirogane was the last one to make it back to her room. She was surprised that she found it in herself to give a speech like that. As soon as she closed the door all confidence she had disappeared. She suddenly started shivering and muttering to herself over and over again:

"I'm going to be killed first aren't I?"

...

...

...

 

**Monobear Theatre**

"You know I'm often asked, harassed even about why I started these killing games"

"It's getting rather annoying, having to constantly justify yourself."

"So let me state this for the record so that not one person or being ever utters this idiotic question to me again"

"These killing games are my everything. My children if you will! This is a form or art for me. Oh but don't think I'm alone, oh no! I've taken so much inspiration from others you know."

This is a 'Legacy' of killing games that I intend to carry on."

"Let me assure you- Dangan Ronpa is 'Forever'. And don't you forget that!"

 

**Prologue: The Prelude to 53**

**End**

**Surviving Members: 16**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there it is! Next time we dive right into Chapter One.
> 
> Otherwise I hope you all have a good Christmas/Holidays!


End file.
